Shaping Alaska's Future

What is Shaping Alaska's Future?

The Shaping Alaska's Future initiative is UA's commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. The university is working to modernize, streamline and improve the university system by investing in areas of real need and eliminating barriers to student success. It is our map for negotiating the challenging terrain ahead, and it will guide decisions about people, programs and resources at UA for years to come.

The UA Board of Regents has officially adopted the Shaping Alaska’s Future initiative as board policy and a new booklet that lists the five Shaping themes, the 23 most challenging issues we face as a university system, and the 23 corresponding effects we intend to achieve. Each effect statement is, essentially, a goal we’ve collectively agreed we must attain.

Academic Affairs and Public Affairs have teamed up to revamp the Shaping Alaska's Future website. From here you can find a cool new video that helps set the stage for why the university is commited to Shaping Alaska's Future, including some of the challenges before us, such as low high-school graduation rates, low college-going rates and fairly low college completion rates compared to our peers.

November 2014 - Alumni giving increased by 100 percent over the last five years, and the UA Foundation reports FY14 private donations to the UA System at $23 million, a whopping 32 percent over FY13. (These donations must be used specifically where the donor directs, such as specific scholarships or programs.)